Wednesday 7th July saw the 2nd game of Star Wars Chain of Command. Still no vehicles made it to the table, although in hindsight Phil wished he’d selected the Speeder Bikes.
The scenario was set on Tatooine and was based on the early events of Episode IV.
Given the plans to the Death Star by Princess Leia, R2-D2 and his companion C-3PO evade capture by the Empire in an escape pod.
The pod has crash landed on the desert planet Tatooine, but its trajectory was tracked by both the Empire and Rebels. Both forces quickly dispatch teams to rescue/capture the droids and the vital plans they carry.
Victory would go to the side that extracted the Droids from the crashed pod and escorted them (or at least R2-D2) safely back to their deployment line.
Phil played the mighty Empire and Mal & Steve the plucky Rebels. The game was hosted over Zoom (and reported) by Rob.
Neither side was allowed to take a Pre-game Barrage or Support Battery, for fear of hitting the Escape pod. The Rebels activated first, and benefitted from having jump-off points close to the Escape pod. The Rebels deployed a Wookiee War Clan, led by Chewbacca, poised behind a cluster of rocks, ready to dash to the Escape pod; a squad of Rebel troopers, commanded by Luke Skywalker, covering them from behind debris from a wrecked Star Destroyer; and a Sniper team located in the Airlock wreckage. The Empire’s Jump-off points were positioned significantly further from the pod, giving them a distinct disadvantage in the race to the Escape pod. They deployed a squad of Death Troopers to try and stop the Wookiee advance, covered by two squads of Stormtroopers positioned within the Hatch and Nose Section wreckage.
The Wookiees reached the pod first and freed the droids, and now had to protect them from the advancing Death Troopers during the dash back to their deployment line.
Sustained fire from the Death Troopers and Stormtroopers in the Hatch quickly wiped out Chewbacca’s War Clan, leaving him to rescue the droids on his own.
Return fire from the Rebels started to take out the advancing heavily armed Death Troopers, but didn’t slow their advance. Darth Vader arrived on the scene and ordered the Storm Troopers in the Nose Section to advance to support their black clad comrades.
However, the Empire was unable to stop the mighty Chewbacca before he manged to guide the droids into safety behind the cover of the ruined Airlock, and into the desert village beyond. A second squad of Rebels advanced to provide a protective screen.
With only yards to go for the droids to safely escape, and the Empire having no way of stopping them, a Rebel victory was declared.
Post Game Analysis
Had the Empire selected the Speeder Bikes as a support option, they would have had a much better chance of catching the droids before they reached safety. This would probably have seen the droids changing hands multiple times during the game, which was the intention of the scenario.
Also, in hindsight, the board layout had too many tall terrain pieces too close to the Escape pod, making the dash to safety for the Rebels quite a short one, giving the Empire little time to react.
Adapting the normal Chain of Command scenarios to a Star Wars theme and achieving a balanced game is difficult. The weapons, vehicles, national special characteristics, and the use of Force Powers are very different, and the various planets on which Star Wars battles are waged have different terrain features to that seen during European WW2 conflicts. Low hedges, cornfields, streams, and mettled roads are never seen. But we are learning.
A third Star Wars game is planned for next Wednesday. This time with the Empire attaching a Rebel held objective. Hopefully this time some vehicles will make it on to the table.
Rob
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